Be Strong and of a Good Courage

As the mantle of leadership passed from Moses to Joshua, the new leader of the Israelites receive a lot of encouragement from Moses and the Lord. Moses said to Joshua, “Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.” And then in the sight of all Israel he said again, “Be strong and of a good courage: for thou must go with this people unto the land which the Lord hath sworn unto their fathers to give them; and thou shalt cause them to inherit it. And the Lord, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.” In case Joshua missed the message, Moses said again these words to the new prophet: “Be strong and of a good courage: for thou shalt bring the children of Israel into the land which I sware unto them: and I will be with thee” (Deuteronomy 31:6-8, 23). About forty years earlier when the chosen twelve went up the first time to scout out the promised land Moses had said something similar: “Be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land” (Numbers 13:20). Joshua had certainly been courageous then as he and Caleb brought back the good report, and now he needed that courage more than ever as he took over the leadership of the whole of Israel.

                As soon as Moses was gone, the Lord’s message to Joshua was the same: “Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them. Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee.” He questioned Joshua: “Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.” This first chapter recounting his new leadership ends with these words of the people to Joshua: “Only be strong and of a good courage” (Joshua 1:6-7, 9, 18). That makes six times we have these words of encouragement to Joshua to “be strong and of a good courage” at the beginning of his leadership. Surely it is a powerful message to all of us if the Lord has called us to a new work—we must be strong and courageous and He promises to not fail us or forsake us. He will be with us withersoever we go if we will hearken to all of His words. Surely these words to Joshua indeed gave him courage to lead his people to overcome their enemies.

                Amidst these same verses the Lord gave Joshua the key to his success in leading the Israelites. He said this: “Thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success” (Joshua 1:7-8). I love the message this has for all of us: if we want to be successful and prosperous, then we must do two things: constantly ponder the words of the scriptures and then follow their instructions. No matter what the challenges we face, the first step to success is to study the scriptures and live accordingly. My wife and I have prayed much recently for one particular child who has been struggling, and as I sought to know what new thing I could do to help, this scripture from the Book of Mormon again came to mind to affirm that nothing new was needed: “And now, as the preaching of the word had a great tendency to lead the people to do that which was just—yea, it had had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else, which had happened unto them—therefore Alma thought it was expedient that they should try the virtue of the word of God” (Alma 31:5). Our child needs the influence of the word of God more than anything else, and if we want power over our challenges, there is nothing like the virtue of the word of God to effect change. Like Joshua we must learn to “mediate therein day and night,” and as we do so we will indeed be made strong and courageous to overcome whatever difficulties we face.